And when he purposed to go into Achaia, the brethren wrote to the disciples engaging them to receive him, who, being come, contributed much to those who believed through grace.
Apollos had just learned more from Aquila and Priscilla at Ephesus. Now he wants to sail to Achaia, and this short verse shows what happens next: believers write for him, disciples welcome him, and he does a whole company of Christians great good.
Nothing in the account gives Apollos an official appointment. He simply moves on with the backing of those who had heard him, and commentators point to this as the pattern of how a teacher was set going.
Take another instructive case in Acts 18:24-28. Apollos, though he knew only the baptism of John, diligently gave out what he knew, and learned the way of God more perfectly through a plain Christian man and his wife, Aquila and Priscilla. Instead of getting him ordained, the believers wrote commending him from Ephesus to Achaia as a great preacher and teacher, without any formal act whatsoever.
The writing itself is not incidental. It is the first plain instance in Scripture of one company of believers vouching in writing for a traveller to another.
There is a reference to a letter of commendation in the Scriptures in Acts 18:27. We find that the believers in Ephesus wrote a letter of commendation to those in Achaia, commending their brother Apollos to them.
Writers draw a working practice out of it — a letter spares a congregation from having to weigh up a stranger at the door in a few rushed minutes.
Letters of commendation should be carried by those who move from one place to another (Rom. 16:1-2; 2 Cor. 3:1). They help strengthen practical fellowship between assemblies. They also give the "doorkeepers" confidence in the principles of reception, when they would otherwise face someone who seems to be a stranger. Fellowship can be enjoyed at once when the bearer of a letter of commendation has ready evidence that they are a true believer.
His help worked in two directions at once. It also showed a strength his own teachers did not have.
He refuted the Jews with force in public, showing from the Scriptures that Jesus was the Christ. His progress was clear to all. Arrogant opposers were put to shame, and he built up the faithful. Apollos could work with a force beyond those who had led him on in private. This is the scriptural way to gain a good standing, and much boldness in the faith that is in Christ Jesus.
One writer sums up his method in a single line.
It is said of Apollos that he "helped them much which had believed through grace." How? He showed from the Scriptures the glory of Christ! (Acts 18:27-28).
(ESV: "he greatly helped those who through grace had believed.")
Two people stand behind this fruitful visit. What Apollos gave in Achaia, he had first received at their table.
Apollos had a natural gift of eloquence — he was a master of words. By diligent study he had become "mighty in the Scriptures." Yet when he came to Ephesus he was not well informed about God's intervention in Christ... Aquila and Priscilla heard him and at once saw what he lacked. They did the delightful service of showing him hospitality, so that they could teach him more fully what had come about through Christ. So God used these saints, who had no public gift of their own, to launch a very gifted vessel properly on his career of service. From Ephesus he went to Corinth. There he convinced many Jews about Christ, and he also gave the believers great help. How much of the reward of his effective service will go to the credit of Aquila and Priscilla, who can say?
The people he helped were already believers, and another servant had reached them first. How Apollos treated that man's work says as much as his preaching.
But there was another circle of interest, and he did not neglect it in his zeal to refute his countrymen. There were believers in the Lord Jesus Christ. These he helped much (Acts 18:27). And Paul, writing afterwards to the Corinthians, reminded them of that eloquent and earnest man's ministry, saying, "I planted, Apollos watered" (1 Cor. 3:6)... Apollos was very eloquent, and no doubt a most attractive speaker. Even so, he had never tried, and still did not try, to gather people round himself. Nor did he try to lessen the love and respect the believers at Corinth had for Paul.
- Grace first. The people he served had believed through grace. Grace was at work before he ever arrived.
- Gift next. A couple with no public gift taught him at home and launched a very gifted man into service.
- Letter after. Believers put their commendation in writing. No ordination appears anywhere in the account.
- Help then. He built up the faithful and answered arrogant opposers in public from the Scriptures.
- Christ last. His help had one content: he showed from the Scriptures the glory of Christ. He never gathered a following to himself.
For he with great force convinced the Jews publicly, shewing by the scriptures that Jesus was the Christ.
This verse closes the account of Apollos with one line about his public work, and it all turns on one method: he argued from the Scriptures. It raises two questions — where did his power come from, and what was he proving?
Apollos did not invent a new approach. He used the same tool the earlier preachers had used with people who already accepted God's written revelation.
The apostles and early workers in the Word dealt in this same way with people who had a written revelation from God and accepted it. Peter's sermons at Jerusalem, Stephen's defence, and Paul's ministry to his own people show it clearly. Apollos too (Acts 18:28) used the weapon of Old Testament Scripture. He powerfully convinced, or refuted, the Jews, showing in public by the Scriptures that the Christ was Jesus. Every one of them turned to the Scriptures, and used the sword of the Spirit with clear and blessed effect.
His argument had one target. The verse puts it as "the Christ was Jesus" — the Messiah is the Lord Jesus — and he proved it from the Old Testament Scriptures.
Here he was a very real help to the disciples. He also spoke with such power that he convinced the Jews of the truth that the Lord Jesus is the Messiah. He used the Old Testament Scriptures to this good end. Paul had planted the church at Corinth in this same chapter; now Apollos waters it (1 Cor. 3:6).
The older translation's "mightily convinced" (ESV: "powerfully refuted") describes an argument that left opponents with nothing to say. Two things happened at once — and the same public work that silenced the critics fed the believers.
Everyone could see his progress. Arrogant opponents were put to shame, and the faithful were built up through him. For Apollos could work with greater force than those who had taught him in private. This is the way Scripture shows for gaining a good standing, and great boldness in the faith that is in Christ Jesus.
This public strength grew out of private teaching. The two people who taught him held no office and no title.
A believer and his wife taught him more fully. They had no more authority to teach than he did. Soon he is found more active and honoured than ever: "he greatly helped those who through grace had believed; for he powerfully refuted the Jews in public" (Acts 18).
Because everything rested on the Scriptures, how they were quoted mattered. One writer draws a line back to John the Baptist, whose preaching was all Apollos originally knew, and asks what our own teaching might produce.
By the Scriptures. May that word go home to each of us. Suppose John the Baptist had been in that meeting at Ephesus, listening to Apollos. He might have asked where Apollos first met these things. Think of the joy of this servant. He was once puzzled and a little disappointed, and now he learns that Apollos began his service "knowing only the baptism of John." If an "Apollos" was the result of our service, would it not be worthwhile?
The result also says something about the documents Apollos was quoting. If they were unreliable, the outcome makes no sense.
Can one refute so powerfully by means of a pack of myths and writings of impostors?
No apostle sent him out, and no official appointment lies behind his work.
At Corinth he becomes a powerful teacher of the gospel of the Lord among the Jews. In this way he strengthens the faith of the disciples. The energy of the Holy Spirit shows itself in him without any intervention of the apostle or of the twelve. He acts independently; that is, the Spirit acts independently in him.
- Taught — a believer and his wife, holding no office, taught him more fully; afterwards he was "more active and honoured than ever."
- Armed — he used "the weapon of Old Testament Scripture," the same sword the earlier preachers used.
- Aimed — at one target only: showing from those Scriptures that Jesus is the Christ.
- Effective — "arrogant opponents were put to shame, and the faithful were built up through him." One public work did both.
- Free — no apostle appointed him; "the Spirit acts independently in him." That is "the way Scripture shows for gaining a good standing."